This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Vehicles having four-wheel drive capabilities that are designed for on-road and off-road use typically provide optional engagement/disengagement of two of the four wheels. The wheels to be disengaged are necessarily provided with a driveline from the vehicle powertrain wherein for on-road use and to avoid unnecessary energy consumption and wearing of the out-of-service driveline components, hub locks are provided for disconnecting the axles from the wheels of the vehicle. The original hub lock devices were manually actuated. A driver/operator would stop the vehicle, engage the transfer case disconnect system and then manually turn a dial located in each wheel hub to activate the hub lock to disconnect the wheels from the axles.
Subsequently, mechanisms have been developed to automatically activate the hub locks. Automatic locking hubs for four-wheel drive vehicles are now available in many different design configurations. Such configurations include direct manual clutch engagement, remote vacuum clutch engagement, and remote pressure clutch engagement. The systems of the previous designs include complex designs requiring numerous parts involved that render the device expensive to produce and/or are complex to assemble. The present disclosure provides a more compact package of components for easier assembly to the vehicle, with improved aesthetics.